دانشگاه تهران فصلنامه سیاست 1735-9678 56 3 2026 09 23 Analysis of Conceptual Developments in Political Culture (The Case of Web of Science Database from 1985 to 2024) تحلیل تحولات مفهومی فرهنگی سیاسی در منابع علمی (مطالعۀ موردی: پایگاه وب آو ساینس از 1985 تا 2024) 948 917 107502 10.22059/jpq.2026.403954.1008452 FA عبدالامیر نبوی دانشیار، گروه مطالعات منطقه‌ای، دانشکدۀ حقوق و علوم سیاسی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران. مرتضی اکبری استاد، گروه کارآفرینی فناورانه، دانشکدۀ کارآفرینی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران. 0000-0001-5215-3349 Journal Article 2025 10 12 Abstract Objective This study presents the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the conceptual evolution of political culture over four decades (1985–2024). The primary objective is to map the intellectual structure, thematic trajectories, and research networks within political culture scholarship, employing a three-dimensional theoretical framework—semantic (meaning), pragmatic (application), and contextual (settings)—to trace how this foundational concept has transformed from classical national-attitude approaches toward digital, globalized, and interdisciplinary understandings. Additionally, the research identifies influential authors, institutions, and publications while exposing critical research gaps, particularly the underrepresentation of non-Western societies, to guide future inquiry and inform policy design for democratic governance. Introduction Political culture has been a central concept in political science since Almond (1956) and Almond and Verba’s (1963) seminal work, The Civic Culture, which established the study of citizens’ orientations toward political systems. Over decades, scholars expanded this framework: Almond and Verba (1989) revisited the civic culture thesis, emphasizing reciprocal causality between culture and structure; Elazar (1984) linked political culture to federalism and state-level governance; Feldman and Zaller (1992) introduced “ambivalence” in American welfare attitudes; North (1990) integrated culture with institutional change; and Tilly (2007) connected cultural patterns to democratization processes. Despite this rich heritage, the literature remains fragmented. Most studies concentrate on Western democracies (Inglehart, 2020; Welzel, 2021), while emerging phenomena—digital participation, populism, post-materialist values, and global interconnectedness—challenge classical frameworks. Few systematic reviews have mapped political culture’s conceptual evolution or identified its thematic clusters, intellectual roots, and emerging frontiers. This gap limits theoretical integration and practical applications. Hence, this study employs bibliometric methods—rarely applied to political culture—to analyze 942 Web of Science articles, offering a quantitative, objective overview that reveals hidden patterns, dominant discourses, and understudied areas. Methodology This study adopts a bibliometric approach, a robust quantitative technique for systematically analyzing large scientific corpora to identify trends, networks, and intellectual structures. Data were retrieved from the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Core Collection, one of the most authoritative global databases. The search strategy restricted results to documents with “political culture” in their titles, published in English between 1985 and 2024. The initial extraction yielded 942 articles, collectively receiving 9,124 citations, averaging 10.43 citations per year. Two primary analytical techniques were applied using VOSviewer software (Van Eck & Waltman, 2009): (1) co-citation analysis, which identifies clusters of frequently co-cited references to uncover the intellectual foundations of political culture research; and (2) co-occurrence (keyword) analysis, which examines the frequency and relationships among keywords appearing together in the same publications to detect thematic clusters and emerging research fronts. Minimum thresholds for inclusion followed standard practices to ensure robust visualization. The resulting networks were interpreted through the three-dimensional theoretical lens—semantic (conceptual shifts), pragmatic (application domains), and contextual (geographical and historical settings)—to trace how political culture has evolved across different scholarly traditions and socio-political contexts. This triangulation of quantitative bibliometric data and qualitative theoretical interpretation enables a nuanced understanding while maintaining objectivity and reproducibility. Results and Discussion The findings reveal a steadily upward publication trend, with peaks in 2015 and 2017, indicating growing academic interest. The United States dominates in both productivity and citation impact, followed by the United Kingdom and Germany. Ronald Inglehart ranks as the most cited author (449 citations), with the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan as leading institutions. The most highly cited article is Feldman and Zaller’s (1992) “The Political Culture of Ambivalence” (439 citations), which illuminated internal value conflicts shaping welfare attitudes. McRobbie’s (2002) study on creative industries (383 citations) and Inglehart’s (1988) “Renaissance of Political Culture” (328 citations) follow closely. Co-occurrence analysis identifies seven thematic clusters: (1) governance and institutional change (legitimacy, populism, corruption); (2) political culture and power structures (identity, inequality, violence, liberalism); (3) political systems and power transitions (authoritarianism, democratization, revolution); (4) education, attitudes, and political participation (youth, civic engagement); (5) media, ideology, and political communication (digital platforms, social networks, polarization); (6) cultural change and societal values (trust, post-materialism, renaissance); and (7) citizenship and political culture (collective identity, social belonging). These clusters demonstrate that political culture has evolved from a static, nationally-bound concept toward a dynamic, multi-layered construct intersecting governance, media, inequality, and digital participation. Co-citation analysis reveals four major intellectual clusters: (1) political culture and democratic change, rooted in Almond and Verba’s civic culture tradition; (2) political culture and challenges of order in changing societies, drawing on Eckstein (1988), Inglehart (1988), and Huntington (1968); (3) federalism and multi-level governance, building on Elazar’s (1984) work; and (4) ideology, culture, and historical-cultural transformations, incorporating Geertz (1973), Habermas (1991), and Thompson et al. (1990). Together, these clusters confirm that political culture has matured into an interdisciplinary field bridging sociology, communication, political economy, and public administration. Significant research gaps persist: non-Western societies remain severely underrepresented, and despite the rise of digital media, only a minority of articles explore digital political culture, online polarization, or algorithmic governance. Theoretically, classical frameworks often assume stable cultural patterns, whereas emerging research shows political culture is fluid, contested, and shaped by transnational flows and generational value shifts (Inglehart, 1997, 2020). These findings call for mixed-method, longitudinal, and comparative approaches capturing both structural continuity and cultural change. Practically, policymakers should invest in civic education, media literacy, and inclusive institutions that foster participatory and resilient political cultures. The study advocates re-conceptualizing political culture not merely as a residual variable but as an autonomous, generative force co-constituting political order, identity, and collective action—thereby providing a comprehensive roadmap for future research and policy design. مفهوم فرهنگ سیاسی از مباحث قدیمی و بنیادین در علم سیاست است که ریشه‌های آن با تاریخ شکل‌گیری این علم گره‌ خورده است. معنای امروزی این مفهوم به دهۀ ۱۹۳۰ بازمی‌گردد و همزمان با شکل‌گیری رهیافت «خصیصۀ ملی» مطرح شد. این پژوهش با به‌کارگیری چارچوب نظری سه‌بعدی (معنایی، کاربردی، زمینه‌ای) به تحلیل تحول مفهوم فرهنگ سیاسی از سطح نگرش‌های ملی تا فرهنگ سیاسی دیجیتال و جهانی‌شده می‌پردازد. در این پژوهش، روند تغییر تحولات مفهوم فرهنگ سیاسی در بازۀ زمانی 1985 تا پایان 2024 در پایگاه وب آو ساینس به‌عنوان معتبرترین پایگاه‌ دادۀ جهان با استفاده از تحلیل 942 مقاله تحلیل شد. تحقیق حاضر با استفاده از روش بیبلیومتریک به‌عنوان یکی از روش‌های رایج در حوزۀ تحلیل سیستماتیک ادبیات انجام گرفت. نتایج نشان داد که بیشترین حجم انتشار در سال‌های 2015 و 2017 اتفاق افتاده است. نتایج تحلیل هم‌استنادی، چهار حوزۀ اصلی تحقیقاتی را شامل فرهنگ سیاسی و تحولات مردم‌سالار، فرهنگ سیاسی و چالش‌های نظم در جوامع در حال تغییر، فدرالیسم و سیاست‌های چندسطحی حکومت و همچنین ایدئولوژی، فرهنگ و تحولات تاریخی-فرهنگی مشخص کرد. علاوه بر نتایج مذکور، تحلیل هم‌رخدادی تحقیقات انجام‌شده را در هفت خوشۀ موضوعی دسته‌بندی کرد که این خوشه‌ها حکمرانی و تحولات نهادی، فرهنگ سیاسی و ساختارهای قدرت، نظام‌های سیاسی و تحولات قدرت، آموزش، نگرش‌ها و مشارکت سیاسی، رسانه، ایدئولوژی و ارتباطات سیاسی، تحولات فرهنگی و ارزش‌های جامعه و شهروندی و فرهنگ سیاسی نامگذاری شدند. https://jpq.ut.ac.ir/article_107502_ea73038fb130a7acf48f268b28e22c8a.pdf